When I heard that Greg Monroe became the 541st player to play in an NBA game this season, setting the all-time record due to unfortunate circumstances in our world, it came as a surprise. It came as an even bigger surprise to learn that, according to Basketball Reference, that number has already leapt to 557 just a couple of days later. And it came as an even bigger surprise to hear that the league had become so jumbled up in a frantic attempt to fill rosters that players didn't even know who their teammates were on the same day that they were supposed to take the court together in game action.
But that's what happened to Trae Young when the Atlanta Hawks — or whatever random assemblage of players came together to appear as the "Hawks" on December 29 — played against the Chicago Bulls.
"I came to shootaround not knowing most of my teammates," Young said (via Chris Kirschner of The Athletic). "Nate (McMillan) never wants to make excuses. I’m not the type to make excuses, but it’s frustrating when you look around the league and other teams have gotten games postponed. It’s not even canceling them but it’s moving them because of what’s going on with the COVID outbreaks.
"We got hit hard by COVID. It’s frustrating not getting games postponed."
Atlanta lost by 14 to Chicago. Starting wing Chaundee Brown Jr. made his second consecutive start, and only the second start of his NBA career, in the loss. Veteran Lance Stephenson played in over 12 minutes off the bench. Reserve Cat Barber is still searching for his first NBA point after failing to score in each of his first three contests in his 10-day contract. Cameron Oliver made a much better impression in his first appearance for the Hawks, dropping 13 points on 6-6 shooting as a fellow reserve in Wednesday's loss. Malcolm Hill, in his third game, had to play a whopping 29 minutes.
To sum it up: this was a rag-tag group of players that don't often play together, nor have they ever really played together, and you don't have to think too hard as to why someone like Trae Young would be frustrated. Unfortunately, the Hawks aren't the only team to have experienced this, and there aren't any signs that the situation is resolving itself any time soon.
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